Highly active metal oxide supported atomically dispersed platinum group metal catalysts

Abstract

A nanocatalyst including single atoms of platinum dispersed on a nanoscale metal oxide, and the nanocatalyst comprises 0.01 wt % to 1 wt % platinum. Preparing the nanocatalyst includes combining a solution comprising a nanoscale metal oxide and a compound containing a Group 10 metal to yield a mixture, aging the mixture for a length of time, filtering the mixture to yield a solid, washing the solid to eliminate water soluble anions, and calcining the solid to yield a nanocatalyst including single atoms or clusters of atoms of the Group 10 metal on the nanoscale metal oxide.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of preparing a nanocatalyst, the method comprising:
 combining a solution comprising a nanoscale metal oxide and a compound containing a Group 10 metal to yield a mixture; 
 aging the mixture for a length of time; 
 filtering the mixture to yield a solid; 
 
       washing the solid to eliminate water soluble anions; and
 calcining the solid to yield a nanocatalyst comprising single atoms of the Group 10 metal or atom clusters of the Group 10 metal on the nanoscale metal oxide, 
 wherein the nanoscale metal oxide is Fe 2 O 3 , the Group 10 metal is platinum, the compound containing the Group 10 metal is Pt(NH 3 ) 4 (NO 3 ) 2 , and a pH of the solution is greater than 10. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein a concentration of the platinum is in a range of 0.001 wt % to 5 wt % of the metal oxide. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein aging comprises aging the mixture at a temperature between room temperature and 60° C. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising drying the solid at a temperature less than 120° C. before calcining the solid. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nanocatalyst comprises 0.001 wt % to 5 wt % of the Group 10 metal. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nanoscale metal oxide is in powder form. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the nanoscale metal oxide is in the form of nanocrystallites. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein each atom cluster of the Group 10 metal comprises two to about 10 atoms of the Group 10 metal. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein each atom cluster has a largest dimension of less than 1 nm. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising preparing the nanoscale metal oxide. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein preparing the nanoscale metal oxide comprises precipitating a solid from an aqueous solution comprising iron nitrate. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein precipitating the solid comprises combining sodium carbonate with the aqueous solution. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein combining the sodium carbonate comprises adding a sodium carbonate solution to the aqueous solution. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13 , further comprising drying the solid. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , wherein drying the solid occurs in air at a temperature of 60° C. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 14 , further comprising calcining the solid to yield the nanoscale metal oxide. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16 , wherein calcining the solid comprises heating the solid in air at 350° C. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein calcining the solid comprises heating the solid for 4 hours. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 10 , wherein nanoscale metal oxide comprises nanoparticles. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 10 , wherein a dimension of nanoscale metal oxide is in a range of 3 nm to 100 nm.